Being subjected to employment discrimination can have a significant impact on your daily life and livelihood. It can impede your ability to do your job and provide for your family. It can also cause you to suffer emotionally, psychologically, and even physically. In the event you can prove employment discrimination happened in your workplace, you may be entitled to recover your damages — and hold your employer accountable for their wrongdoing.

What is Employment Discrimination?

Employment discrimination means treating a worker less favorably than others due to membership in a protected class. It can refer to a wide range of conduct and is illegal under both federal and state law. Employment discrimination can take the form of unfair treatment in comparison with other employees who are not members of a protected class, harassment, denial of reasonable workplace accommodations, or retaliation. This conduct can be committed by an employer, co-worker, supervisor, business owner, or other parties at the company.

Specifically, both Ohio law and federal law protect certain groups of people from employment discrimination. Protected classes include race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age over 40, national origin, ethnicity, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, and status as a parent.

How Do You Prove Employment Discrimination?

If you were subjected to employment discrimination and wish to bring a lawsuit to recover your damages, you will need to prove your claim based on a preponderance of the evidence. This is a lower burden than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” burden of proof used in criminal cases which most people are familiar with. To meet the burden of preponderance of the evidence, the plaintiff in an adverse employment action must demonstrate that it is more likely than not that the defendant is responsible for their damages. In other words, there is a certainty of 51% that the employer committed employment discrimination.

In order to prove employment discrimination, you must establish the following elements:

• You are a member of a protected class
• You were qualified for the job and had the ability to carry out the tasks required of your position
• You were subjected to an adverse employment action
• A similarly situated employee outside of the protected class received preferential treatment

The above elements create a prima facie case of employment discrimination. This means that the law presumes you were the victim of discrimination in the workplace, and the burden then shifts to the employer to show that they had a non-discriminatory reason for the adverse employment action. If your employer is able to offer a non-discriminatory reason, the court will have to determine whether it is legitimate or pretextual. A pretextual reason is a false reason that an employer uses to cover up their wrongful conduct.

What Types of Evidence Can Prove Employment Discrimination?

There are two types of evidence that can be used to prove employment discrimination — direct evidence and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence refers to any type of evidence that can establish discrimination without the need to make an inference. For instance, written documents, communications, or statements that express discriminatory motives can directly prove that discrimination occurred.

In contrast, circumstantial evidence requires an inference to be made in order to prove employment discrimination. Although it is an indirect form of evidence, it can be just as reliable as direct evidence. Examples of circumstantial evidence can include an employer’s pattern of consistently refusing to promote women, passing over female candidates for certain positions who are just as qualified as the male candidates, or failure to provide supporting documentation of performance. Suspicious timing can also be compelling circumstantial evidence, such as in cases where an employee gets terminated or demoted once she informs her boss that she is pregnant.

To establish employment discrimination through either direct or circumstantial evidence, it’s essential to gather any possible evidence early on in your case. This can include copies of correspondence that reference protected class status, documentation of satisfactory performance reviews, and copies of personnel files. It can also be helpful to keep a journal of any discriminatory occurrences, including the date and time they occurred, the names of any witnesses, and any disciplinary action that was taken. Having this documentation in place can help your attorney investigate the claim and make it much easier to prove employment discrimination.

Contact an Experienced Ohio Employment Law Attorney

It can be difficult to prove employment discrimination — which is why it’s vital to have an experienced employment law attorney by your side every step of the way. From our office in Westlake, Lalak LLC offers representation to employees throughout Ohio for a wide range of employment law matters, including those involving discrimination in the workplace. We encourage you to contact us for a free consultation to learn how we can help.